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Old 06-24-2012, 03:00 PM   #21
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This thread reminds me that the only difference between eccentric and forgetful is how much money you have...

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Ms G loves to give me street directions 2 hours before the first turn, like I can remember 20 lefts and rights.
I get hand signals, which I can't see because I'm looking at the road ahead
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Old 06-24-2012, 03:11 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by Bestwifeever View Post
I like to think that my brain is almost full so I would have to empty something out to remember the new stuff.

Bill Cosby said that as you age, your brain migrates to your butt, so you can't remember what you got up to do until you sit back down.
Bill Cosby's joke is funny!

I had a friend whose dad said human brain was like a computer with limited disk space, so unless you erase something, you cannot put anything new in.
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Old 06-24-2012, 03:13 PM   #23
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I get hand signals, which I can't see because I'm looking at the road ahead
Same here. I'd say "Which way?" and I'd get back "This way". Right or Left would have helped.
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Old 06-24-2012, 03:16 PM   #24
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DW asked me to tighten the handle on the mixer valve on our tub/shower about a month ago. Every day when I take a shower I think about tightening the handle, but I forget about the task by the time I am dressed. I finally remembered about 15 minutes ago and the task is now complete. Wonder if DW will notice tomorrow morning?
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Old 06-24-2012, 03:25 PM   #25
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About the forgetting part (shopping list, things to bring to a place, etc) - If I am lazy to write them down or I am in bed and remember I need to do something, (I learned this trick in Psychology 101 in college), visualize the item much bigger than its actual size in your mind. (I realize there is no reference point in your mind's eye, but this works well for me.) - HUGE milk junk, HUGE Kellogg corn flake box, HUGE toothpaste, etc, and I try to remember the total number of items I need to remember.
I'll have to try that one! I had never heard of it.

I do find that remembering the total number of items I need to remember, is helpful. For example, every night at bedtime I know I need to do three things (take my pills, plug in anything that needs recharging, and adjust the thermostat). I used to forget one or the other now and then, until I started counting them off like that.
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Old 06-24-2012, 03:30 PM   #26
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I've had most of the examples and not been too concerned. But what's ALWAYS bugged me is my inability to remember names, and also faces. Even talked to Dr. about it once, he said no big deal and more frequent in men. I had a successful career, but I was always haunted by this failure to remember people and their names. Go figure. I've known people (one politician in particular) who could walk into a restaurant and wander around and call out names and it would just amaze me.
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Old 06-24-2012, 03:41 PM   #27
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As far as faces go, I used to work in a restaurant as a server, and I almost always remembered if the customer was a good tipper or not. (some kind of survival mechanism or what, I don't know.)
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Old 06-24-2012, 04:00 PM   #28
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I think I have become a little more forgetful, because I don't put much effort into remembering as I did when working. Most things we forget are not that important. It isn't like we forgot to put clothes on and drove naked somewhere. My worst one was last year when I went to local KFC drive-in. Paid for my meal and promptly drove off without even waiting for my meal. Got out of car and realized what I did. No way was I going back to tell them I was the dumb one who paid for a meal I didn't bother to get.
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Old 06-24-2012, 04:23 PM   #29
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I've had most of the examples and not been too concerned. But what's ALWAYS bugged me is my inability to remember names, and also faces. Even talked to Dr. about it once, he said no big deal and more frequent in men. I had a successful career, but I was always haunted by this failure to remember people and their names. Go figure. I've known people (one politician in particular) who could walk into a restaurant and wander around and call out names and it would just amaze me.
Yep, me too, I just do not store faces or names unless I see someone often. I've tried all the little tricks and nothing works. Now that I'm older I'm hoping people will be more forgiving when I do not recognize them. Once they tell me their name, I know who they are and when I met them, it's just that the face tells me nothing. I think nowadays such a child as myself would be classified as somewhere on the autistic scale. Back then we were just considered dweebs or jerks or social misfits. Not everything about getting older is bad.
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Old 06-24-2012, 04:53 PM   #30
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I've had most of the examples and not been too concerned. But what's ALWAYS bugged me is my inability to remember names, and also faces. Even talked to Dr. about it once, he said no big deal and more frequent in men. I had a successful career, but I was always haunted by this failure to remember people and their names. Go figure. I've known people (one politician in particular) who could walk into a restaurant and wander around and call out names and it would just amaze me.

Me too, when I am with my wife and we run into someone we have not seen in a while - she always whispers into my ear their name to help me out... But I can remember every phone number every one of my relatives has ever had - I just cannot remember what their current number is
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Old 06-24-2012, 05:00 PM   #31
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I was going to write something meaningful but I forgot what it was...
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Old 06-24-2012, 05:58 PM   #32
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Ironically, when I first read this thread I couldn't remember the name of the book that reassured me so much. But it came to me at 2 AM:
Amazon.com: Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss (9780446699358): Martha Weinman Lear: Books

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I had a friend whose dad said human brain was like a computer with limited disk space, so unless you erase something, you cannot put anything new in.
My write head overwrites anything that hasn't been used in a few weeks. But first the controller fragments the information as much as possible.

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Wonder if DW will notice tomorrow morning?
I absolutely loathe these "marriage pop quizzes". Spouse and I have learned to tell each other "I cleaned up the study. Next time you go by there, "ooh" and "ahh" and give me a big compliment."

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Originally Posted by H2ODude View Post
I've had most of the examples and not been too concerned. But what's ALWAYS bugged me is my inability to remember names, and also faces. Even talked to Dr. about it once, he said no big deal and more frequent in men. I had a successful career, but I was always haunted by this failure to remember people and their names. Go figure. I've known people (one politician in particular) who could walk into a restaurant and wander around and call out names and it would just amaze me.
As I understand it, this has more to do with the brain's wiring than with any distraction or forgetting. Some people have the skill, others do not. Some can develop more proficiency if they work on it, others never will.

The staff of a famous retired politician noticed that he could immediately recall the faces & names of over 4000 people at events like conventions or fundraisers. Phenomenal. Somewhat practiced. But mostly hard-wired.

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My worst one was last year when I went to local KFC drive-in. Paid for my meal and promptly drove off without even waiting for my meal. Got out of car and realized what I did. No way was I going back to tell them I was the dumb one who paid for a meal I didn't bother to get.
I've read that this is actually very common. I also see it at Costco where people order their food at the window, pay for it, and then march smartly off before the counter staff have gathered the order together.

I wonder how much it improves the profit margin...
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Old 06-24-2012, 06:10 PM   #33
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I've taken to staging things as reminders. I keep things in specific places so I always know where it will be. My phone and a pair of reading glasses afe always on the kitchen table soi see them to take along when I drive somewhere. My keys, wallet, change & hankie are on my dresser, another stop before I leave the house.

If I want to remember to take an item with me the next day, I go get it and put it in my car while I'm thinking about it instead of counting on remembering the next day. I just put some menu samples in my sailing bag so I remember to give them to my sailing buddies next Sat. I email links to myself to look at later. I download samples of books I want to read to iBooks to remind me and use iBooks as my library request buffer (I rarely buy ebooks), and then delete them as I get/read them.

I make lists for some things, but hopefully I'm not obsessive (yet).

I'm sure many of us do things like this...
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Old 06-24-2012, 06:41 PM   #34
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I've taken to staging things as reminders. I keep things in specific places so I always know where it will be. My phone and a pair of reading glasses afe always on the kitchen table soi see them to take along when I drive somewhere. My keys, wallet, change & hankie are on my dresser, another stop before I leave the house.

If I want to remember to take an item with me the next day, I go get it and put it in my car while I'm thinking about it instead of counting on remembering the next day. I just put some menu samples in my sailing bag so I remember to give them to my sailing buddies next Sat. I email links to myself to look at later. I download samples of books I want to read to iBooks to remind me and use iBooks as my library request buffer (I rarely buy ebooks), and then delete them as I get/read them.

I make lists for some things, but hopefully I'm not obsessive (yet).

I'm sure many of us do things like this...
Yep, I do that also with my big three. The keys stay in ignition, wallet and cell phone on kitchen counter ( dropped my landline, so I have to be careful with cell). Reading glasses, I decided to buy so many of the $2 variety it doesn't matter where they are at as I will stumble unto a pair in about every room.
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Old 06-24-2012, 07:23 PM   #35
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I like to think that my brain is almost full so I would have to empty something out to remember the new stuff.
This reminds me of that episode of "Married.....With Children" when Kelly was going on a quiz show and Al was busy filling her brain with all kinds of trivia. But Al found out that if you jam a person's brain with one too many things, the first thing you added to it will be forced out. The thing which got forced out was Al's most notable achievement, his scoring 4 touchdowns in a HS football game. And of course the question was, "Who scored 4 TDs in a Polk HS football game?" Kelly had no idea.

This episode has also come to mind because this enter-and-exit thing has sometimes happened to me when I am going out to do multiple errands and have to take a bunch of items with me. What happens is I remember to take the unusual item(s) with me but forget to take the more routine ones, as if my brain could only handle 3 unusual things to remember to take with me so one of the more routine ones got left behind. Like I remember the library book (unusual) but forget the shopping list or bottle of water (routine).
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Old 06-24-2012, 07:31 PM   #36
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I absolutely loathe these "marriage pop quizzes". Spouse and I have learned to tell each other "I cleaned up the study. Next time you go by there, "ooh" and "ahh" and give me a big compliment."
I thought I was the only one who did this! I do most of the yardwork, and my SO rarely even notices that I've been pruning, weeding, edging, planting, mulching, or whatever. So now I tell him that as we're backing out of the driveway, he'd better see what I did and I want to hear some "oohs and aahs".
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Old 06-24-2012, 11:59 PM   #37
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I thought I was the only one who did this!
Well, if she'd soldered some plumbing or replaced a toilet flapper valve or cleaned out the dryer exhaust or put up a new surfboard rack then I'd be much more likely to notice...

Our daughter is one of those people who can walk into a room and instantly notice what's changed-- frequently not even slowing down, yet still tossing off a comment like "I like that new pillow on the sofa!" as she passes through. So spouse makes a lot of changes to the decor before our daughter comes home from college, just to see if she has her powers of observation.

But if I was in charge of the decor & landscaping, this property wouldn't even have bathroom doors or real grass...
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Old 06-25-2012, 04:52 AM   #38
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Is that like when I go to the kitchen from my computer room and then cannot remember why I went there?
Check yourself into the nursing home, stick a fork in it, you're done.

Just a couple of weeks ago in talking with my little sister (who is 60) we remembered laughing at our mother when she would come into a room and ask "Why did I come in here?"

Now we're doing the same thing.

DW's sister, a semi-retired nurse who now works part time, put it this way: A normal person will forget where they put their keys. A person with dementia will forget what keys are for.

So you probably have a ways to go yet.
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Old 06-25-2012, 05:08 AM   #39
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But if I was in charge of the decor & landscaping, this property wouldn't even have bathroom doors or real grass...

Green Pea Gravel is the way to go...
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Old 06-25-2012, 07:01 AM   #40
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As someone else recently commented, there are plenty of smartphone apps that tell you where you are.
What I need is one that tells me why I just walked into this room.
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